Friday, June 19, 2009

Roster Moves in Bulk

We've had a busy week with the Major League roster, and today is the denouement (more or less). Here goes:

Purchase the contract of Kyle BlanksThe big man is coming. Kyle has been playing some outfield (15 games) along with 1B in AAA Portland, and he's hit .283/.393/.485 with 12 homers. He won't be supplanting Adrian at 1B, but we believe there will be some ab's for him during interleague play next week.

Purchase the contract of Eliezer AlfonzoEliezer is leading the Beavers in both OPS (.887) and slugging (.565) while catching 41 games. With Nick Hundley going on the DL, Eliezer should get some time behind the plate with Henry Blanco. Recall Wade LeBlancWade was with the big Club a few days last week but didn't have the opportunity to pitch. Tonight, however, he'll be the starter against the A's. Wade has a 4.08 ERA in 57 innings in Portland, giving up 56 hits and 17 walks while striking out 47.Reinstate Everth Cabrera from the 60-Day DLAfter breaking a bone in his hand in Philadelphia, Everth had surgery and missed two months. In the last few weeks, though, he has made rehab stops at Lake Elsinore (.391/.500/.522) and Portland (.333/.379/.407). It certainly appears as though he's ready to go.Place Chris Young on the 15-Day DLThis has been well-documented in the mainstream media, but Chris has been battling some shoulder soreness for the past three or four starts. We decided it was time to let the soreness settle down before the injury cascaded.

Place Nick Hundley on the 15-Day DLNick was hit on the wrist with a pitch a little more than a week ago, and it's been slow to respond to treatment. Rather than continuing to try to fight through it on a daily basis, it made sense to bring Eliezer and make sure that Nick didn't have to play with discomfort for an extended period.

Place Cliff Floyd on the 60-Day DLCliff's shoulder continues to be a burden for him. Surgery is an option.

Josh Wilson claimed on waivers by the Seattle MarinersIn order to create room on the roster (both 25-man and 40-man) for Everth Cabrera, we placed Josh Wilson on waivers. The Mariners claimed him, so we won't have the option of having him available to us in AAA. Josh had a prior outright, so even had he cleared waivers, he would have had the option to elect free agency. Josh doesn't have any options remaining, so the Mariners must keep him on their 25-man roster.

Arturo Lopez claimed on waivers by the New York Mets We needed to create a few 40-man roster spots today - Kyle Blanks, Eliezer Alfonzo, and Everth Cabrera (60-Day DL doesn't count toward the 40-man) - so we had some tough choices to make. As I wrote in an earlier post, often times the decision comes down to which player has the best chance to get through waivers. We took a shot with Arturo, but the Mets claimed him. He still has options remaining, so the Mets can option him to the minors.

We now have a total of 10 players on the Major League DL: Cha Seung Baek, Cliff Floyd, Luke Gregerson, Scott Hairston (starting rehab in Lake Elsinore this weekend), Shawn Hill, Nick Hundley, Jake Peavy, Luis Perdomo, Chris Young, and Mark Worrell. As a team we've now amassed 507 DL days, and the season is only 76 days old. In fact, we've had six or more players on the DL on 61 of the 76 days. At some point any team's depth gets tested, and I'm afraid we're well beyond that point (especially since our projected #1, #2, and #3 starters are all on the DL). Nevertheless, this is a great opportunity for some of the younger guys to gain experience, prove they belong, and establish themselves.

10 comments:

I've always wondered something about waivers with regards to what happened with Wilson.

For example, if the Mariners claimed him (as they did) but didn't want to keep him on the 25-man roster, they could also try to "sneak him through waivers" and then outright him (assuming Wilson accepts). Well, what happens if you guys wanted him back? Could you put in a claim for him even though you just lost him? And if you did and were awarded him, could you then try the waivers game? Couldn't think back and forth waiving go on forever, or is there some kind of rule against claiming a player you've recently waived?

Paul, I think I've seen a "thank you" reply on virtually every post I've read (which is most of them since I "discovered" your blog). But that won't keep me from saying "thank you" now, because, as a die-hard fan, the insights you give into the thinking and the processes around organizational decisions make me feel like I'm a *part* of those decisions.

So, thank you (again). Keep it up, and let the rest of the front office know that we appreciate a degree of transparency.

I just have to ask Paul, with the troublesome fact that Brian Giles is still on the team, how long and how bad does a player actually have to be in order to be released by the team? I've been absolutely stunned that a player hitting under .200 for more than two and a half months has been able to remain on a major league roster. How can a team be taken seriously at all when it chooses to a retain this level of personnel.

I believe that so many injuries are not accidental but rather the result of injury proneness of too many players and maybe wrong training and treatment. Do you agree? How do you prepare to lower the amount of injuries?

And related to sdsuaztecs' question... any theories on why the Padres forgot he is the best young player to come through their system in the last 5 years and ought to be getting regular at-bats this month?

sdsuaztec4 - that's a GREAT question and I'm interested in an answer to ...

My theory is that the question is presumptuous and narrow ... I don't think there's evidence that he's forgotten how to hit major league pitching ... I think he's still learning how to do that ... there's evidence that he can learn how to do that (since he learned how to hit minor league pitching at each level) ... it takes most players many, many ABs to learn how to hit major league pitching ... he seems worth giving a lot more ABs to see if he can ...